bh: Boost Headers for R

This package provides R with access to Boost header files. Boost provides free peer-reviewed portable C++ source libraries. A large part of Boost is provided as C++ template code which is resolved entirely at compile-time without linking.

This package aims to provide the most useful subset of Boost libraries for template use among CRAN packages. By placing these libraries in this package, we offer a more efficient distribution system for CRAN as replication of this code in the sources of other packages is avoided.

It can be used via the LinkingTo: field in the DESCRIPTION field of an R package --- and the R package infrastructure tools will then know how to set include flags correctly on all architectures supported by R.

Not that this can be used solely by headers-only Boost libraries. This covers most of Boost, but excludes some libraries which require linking for parts or all of their functionality.

See Also

Updating

We aim to maintain this package in a somewhat conservative fashion and do not immediately jump the newest Boost releases. Rather, we start from the Debian sources for Boost to ensure that we work with a version that is at the same time current yet mature. But on occassion, and as needed, we will go directly to Boost releases.

In general, we plan to keep the package up-to-date with Boost upstream, but will not necessarily follow each and every new release as we also value the merits of relative release stability.

If needed, the script local/script/CreateBoost.sh can be used to update a forked version to a newer version of Boost.

Authors

Dirk Eddelbuettel, Jay Emerson and Michael Kane

License

This package is provided under the same license as Boost itself, the BSL-1.0